


In Sickness

by valenstyne



Category: Firefly
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-21
Updated: 2013-05-21
Packaged: 2017-12-12 13:36:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/812166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valenstyne/pseuds/valenstyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River is sick. Simon is a good big brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Sickness

Once, when River was very young, she fell ill. For six days she was in bed with a raging fever, tossing and turning, calling out to people no one else could see.

Simon sat by her side and refused to leave. Their mother and father tried at first to persuade him to go to school, but finally threw up their hands in the face of his stubbornness and reasoned that since Simon had already been exposed to whatever River had, it would probably be best for him to stay home after all.

On the third day the doctor came. He took River’s temperature, listened to her breathing, and said that barring any drastic changes she would be fine. He wrote out a prescription for antibiotics and a rather large bill and left. Simon watched his every move.

For the next three days, Simon made sure that River got her medicine on time, drank plenty of liquids, and stayed warm. He told her stories until she fell asleep, fairytales Mother used to read him at bedtime until he announced at the age of four that he’d outgrown them. Simon couldn’t tell if River was even listening through the fog of sickness, but his voice seemed to calm her.

The morning of the seventh day, her fever broke. For the first time River looked at Simon and knew him, spoke his name in a cracked voice barely above a whisper. Simon was so relieved that he burst into tears.

On the eighth day, Simon announced that when he grew up, he was definitely going to be a doctor.


End file.
